Life and Death

I went for a walk today and saw a cemetery. Next to the cemetery, I saw a business that makes gravestones. I became curious of how much gravestones cost, so I Googled “gravestones”. I don’t know what the difference is between gravestones, headstones, grave markers, and monuments, but these items sell for anywhere from $50 to $2,000 or more. Then I Googled caskets and for some silly reason I became surprised when I saw that Walmart sells caskets. (I wonder if the caskets are on display at the ends of the junk food isles.) At Walmart, all of the caskets sell for under $2,000, except for a bronze casket that costs $3,199.

I’ve yet to be in the position of having to bury a loved one. I’ve had grandparents pass away, but others handled all of the funeral business. A couple of the funerals were out of town and I didn’t even show up. I’ve only actually been to the funeral of one family member: my grandmother (on my mother’s side). So, I can only guess at what I’d do if someone close to me died and I had to bury her or him. I’m pretty sure that I’d be doing whatever is best for the environment and costs the least amount of money. I sincerely doubt that I’ll be buying anyone the bronze casket from Walmart. If you have spent a considerable amount of money on burying a loved one, I don’t mean to criticize you. I’m sure you did what you felt was the right thing to do. However, I presently feel that it’s ridiculous to buy material possessions for dead people, when there so many living beings in desperate need of help.

There could be many reasons why people spend large amounts of money on material possessions for dead people. Maybe people buy expensive stones, caskets, and flower arrangements because they feel guilty that they didn’t spend more time with grandma when she was still alive. I know I felt some guilt when my grandfather died, because I hadn’t spent more time with him.

My grandfather was really just my stepfather’s stepfather (lots of divorce in my family’s history), but he was always a wonderful grandpa to me. When I was a kid and I made a guitar out of an old pizza box, he bought me a used guitar. Then when I played drums in bands, he took photos of my band in his photography studio for free. Then when I had my first art show, he came and took photos of all my art. He was always there supporting me, no matter what I did. I only wish that I had been more supportive of him.

After he passed away a few years ago, I discovered that my sister had an old VHS tape of two gigs that grandpa had performed at Firemen’s Park during the Twilight Tuesday concert series in the early 90s. I watched the video and saw that my brother, sister, mom, and grandma were in the audience. Then I heard my grandfather talk to the audience about how much he had enjoyed performing at Firemen’s Park during the past year, and the year before that, and the year before that. I thought to myself, “Where the heck was I during all these shows?” I’m guessing my mother had told me about the shows, but I had been “too busy”. I had probably been playing drums in garages with rock bands. I had probably thought I was too cool to hang around all the seniors in grandpa’s audience.

As I watched the video, I saw that there were indeed many senior citizens in the crowd. I also noticed something else as I watched the old video tape--grandpa was very entertaining. I had heard him sing Christmas songs every holiday season, but I had never seen him on stage before. I can try to describe my grandpa on stage, but I’d rather you watch the old concert footage yourself. Thanks to modern technology, grandpa is now online! I got my friend Aaron to transfer the VHS tape onto discs and then I put all the footage onto YouTube. All you have to do is go onto YouTube and type Raoul Casimir. You can see “Raoul Casimir in Concert, Part 1”, right up to “Raoul Casimir in Concert, Part 13—The Finale”.

After grandpa died, I looked up his name online and found nothing. It felt very wrong that a performer like Raoul Casimir was not on the internet. I'm glad that he can now entertain people around the world, via YouTube. Perhaps I feel a little less guilty about not seeing him so much during his final years.

You can do all you want after a person dies. You can buy expensive gravestones, caskets, and flower arrangements (even though the money would be better spent on reducing the suffering of those who are still alive). You can put videos of the departed on YouTube, like I did. However, the fact remains that the best time to do something nice for a loved one, is while the person is still alive. I know that’s completely obvious. However, we all need to remind ourselves sometimes, that our loved ones won’t be around forever. Having said that, I’m going to take a break from writing so I can call some people and tell them that I love them. Excuse me.

OK, I’m back. I told five family members that I love them. Well, two of those family members were told through a message that I left on an answering machine, but that’s better than nothing. When I told my sister that I love her, she asked me what I wanted. I said I didn’t want anything. However, the truth is that I wanted a good feeling in my heart, and now it’s there.

Well, I’m sorry if this talk about death has upset any of you. My point with this blog is simply to inspire you to do two things. Actually, make that four things. (I just remembered two things I haven’t even mentioned yet!) OK, here are the four things: 1. Call at least one person and tell that person that you love them. 2. If someone passes away, consider donating money to a charity instead of spending money on a casket, stone, or flowers. 3. Sign your organ donor card and make sure your loved ones know that you want your organs donated so that you can “give the gift of life”. You can also request that a letter be given to anyone who receives one of your organs, encouraging that person to make the transition to a vegan diet. 4. Consider donating your body to science--under the condition that the scientific community agrees to stop experimenting on animals!

I guess if a family member leaves specific instructions on what she or he wants done with her or his body, and that person is paying for everything, then perhaps you have to abide by that individual's wishes. Or, perhaps you can ignore those wishes and do what you feel is right. I’m not a lawyer, so I don’t know what you’ll be able to get away with. I just know that the money spent on material possessions for dead people would be better spent on helping humans and non-human animals who are still alive. I also know that it's a crime to cremate or bury organs that could be used to save lives. Of course, if the organs can't be used to save lives, cremate away!

If you have a moment, perhaps you can check my grandpa out on YouTube. If you have any talented friends or family members, try to capture some moments on video. Watching my grandfather sing online makes me smile every time. However, even if you don’t have any talented loved ones, you can still capture some video. I certainly haven’t let a lack of talent keep me from plastering my own self all over the internet! My loved ones will certainly have lots of footage of me to look at if and when I die. (I say “if”, because anything is possible. I still have hope that I’ll live long enough to have my mind uploaded!)

By the way, whether or not my mind ever gets uploaded, if and when the time comes when my body is dead, after my organs get donated I too want my body donated to science--under the condition that the scientific community agrees to stop experimenting on animals. If they don’t agree with these demands, then please turn my body into burgers and hot dogs. Feed my body to some carnists and then tell them what they ate. Maybe that’ll scare ‘em off burgers and hot dogs forever! Also, I want all of my belongings donated to Niagara Action for Animals. They can sell everything at a yard sale. I don't want my family getting my stuff, because they'd probably just sell it and buy meat.



P.S. I love you all!
P.P.S. Give blood! You can begin saving lives with your body now!
P.P.P.S. Animals are currently considered property, so you should will your companion animals to someone you trust. If they are not mentioned in the will, they can just be sent to a 'shelter' and killed.